Something more
by cintiamcr
Summary: She got fired. She lost her ground, her comfort zone. What is she going to do from now on? She have no idea. First, she needs to know who she really is and who she wants to be. A Leah story, with some of the other existing and new characters. Disclaimer: I own nothing; if I did, Leah wouldn't have left.


**A/N:** This is a story about Leah. I know that most of the fandom don't like her, but I do. I see a lot of potential in her character and I'm sad that she didn't get the chance to show it, so I decided to write it myself. This story starts after she left the hospital on the season finale, but there will be lots of flashbacks, including this first chapter. This is a story about Leah finding herself, trying to figure out what she wants for her future, but to accomplish that, she's gonna need to look at her past to understand first who she is. And that's what I'm trying to do, I'm trying to explore the bits we know about her to create a bigger picture.

The focus will be only on Leah, but I plan to include some of the other characters and glimpses of their lives too. You can expect seeing Stephanie, Jo and a few more, but I won't spoil that now (just in case there's someone wondering, Arizona is not on my plans. Even if I feel that I need to talk about her past romances, which is not the case now, I can always use Alex).

I wish I could make a promise of update everyday or at least every week, but my life is pretty busy right now, so the only thing I can really promise is that I won't leave the story unfinished. I'll do my best to not let you waiting too long. I hope we can all enjoy it!

Reviews are always welcomed. I sort of know what I want to do with this story, but I haven't written much yet, so I appreciate any feedback you can give me.

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><p><strong>New Hampshire. November, 1993<strong>

_"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Emmy. Happy birthday to you!"_

_On her mother's lap, the little Emily laughed as her sister tickled her belly. Leah knew how to make her happy, and she had to be happy for the photos; after all, it was her first birthday. And Emmy didn't react as expected after the happy birthday song. That's why Annette Carolyn Murphy looked so desperately for the help of her middle child. It worked. "Thank you, sweetheart," Annette whispered to Leah, already making her younger daughter to look at the cameras._

_Smiling, Leah went back to her place. She knew she would be called soon. Every party at the Murphy's house had its own ritual of taking photographies, and every member of the family had to appear at least once. For Emily, it was the first time being the center, but Leah had gone through this fourteen times - seven for her and seven more for her big brother. Her brother._ Ouch! Where is Josh? _Annette would be pissed if she called him and he didn't show up. Smoothly, Leah looked back to search for Louise, their nanny, and the only person that could help her without calling all the attention to them. When their eyes met, Leah sighed. "Josh." She mouthed and the nanny understood immediately. Louise - a beautiful, thirty years old, olive skinned, French Guyanese - had been working there since Annette found out that she was pregnant for the first time and she knew Murphy's kids better than their own parents. Leah had no doubt that she could find Josh in a matter of seconds. And she was right._

_"I hate you," Leah heard her brother's low voice on her left year. Yes, she already knew that. Their five years of age difference never allowed them to be close. At least, not as close as Leah wanted. That's why she was so happy when she found out that her mother would have another baby. The difference from her to Emmy was even bigger, but the rules were hers now._

_"You're welcome. You know that mom was going to kill you if you messed with her photo session," she replied._

_He didn't care. "You know that mom was going to kill you if you messed with her photo session," Josh repeated, with an annoying mockingly tone. When Leah opened her mouth, thinking of an appropriated response, Annette called her kids. It was their time to enter the show._

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><p><em>Later that day, Leah was sitting by the window, watching while Louise helped to clean the dinning room and get things back to their places.<em>

_"Leah, come here," the nanny called. She stood and crossed the room with quick steps. "Here," Louise continued. "I think this is the button that fell from Emmy's dress earlier. Can you take it to your mom for me, please?"_

_"Yeah," Leah smiled, happy to help. It's not that she always wanted to do something, but sometimes it could be fun if her mother let her be useful._

_The girl ran outside the door and gained the stairs, climbing two steps at a time. Once upstairs, she spotted her mother on a bedroom, dressing Emmy with the new clothes she was given and talking to grandma Bradford. Leah also saw her image in the mirror. She was supposed to take a shower one hour ago. Scared about the scold she was about to hear, Leah leaned against the wall, waiting for her breath to calm down from her little sprint, and trying to fix her messed up hair. Fortunately, Annette and her mother kept talking, oblivious to the presence of someone listening._

_"Oh, look at her! She's so beautiful," grandma said, referring to Emmy._

_Annette agreed, with a proud tone. "A little moody, sometimes, but definitely, the prettiest baby I have ever seem. And I'm not saying that just because she's mine, since I never said that about the other two."_

_Leah, who was ready to enter the room, stopped. So, didn't her mother think she was pretty?_

_"I know you have a good taste, darling," the two women chuckled. "And I'm glad that this little one seems to have the good looking Bradford genes."_

_"Mother!" Annete censured her mother in a playful tone. "Though Josh is definitely a Murphy, Leah is beautiful too. Not as much as Emmy, but she is not ugly either."_

_"Yeah, yeah," grandma said, dismissively. "Leah_ is_ beautiful, she just doesn't have_ that_ kind of beauty, you know. And she is too soft, too nice. Leah could never be a model as successful as you were. Emily can."_

_Leah's heart stopped. For a second, she thought it was only the fear of being caught listening to a conversation about her. But there was another feeling, a feeling that she couldn't recognize, she just knew that she didn't like it. Unable to move, she startled when she heard her name again. "Leah could be a doctor, like her father, her grandfathers and, hopefully, her brother." It was Annette's voice, but Leah couldn't decifre her tone anymore. She didn't know if her mother was being serious or just making fun of her. Probably the second, since grandma laughed._

_"Oh, dear Lord, really? I don't think so. Josh can be a doctor, but she is too soft for that too. Specially for plastic surgery, you know as much as I do that this is a wild market. We don't want your daughter to fail and leave a stain on something that's been our specialty for three generations already."_

_Annette sighed. "So, what do you suggest that I do to her? She can't be a model, and she can't be a doctor. Fine. But aren't those the only two good options we have?"_

_"Well," grandma started again, slowly. "You can put her in the best schools, and maybe she can find a rich husband. After that, it's not on us anymore, and she can be whatever she wants."_


End file.
